Nürburgring

ABOVE:
Wolfgang Kaufmann
has been winning races since the 1980s. When he isn't competing, he teaches race
driving and drives an Auto Motor und Sport "race taxi" on the Nürburgring's
Nordschleife circuit (usually on Monday afternoons). TOP INSET: Been there, done
that, bought the t-shirt. BOTTOM INSET: A Zakspeed
Viper-Jet race taxi.

Nordschleife (North Loop) racetrack

The
Nordschleife, or North Loop, represents the heart and soul of the
Nürburgring: It was built between 1925 and 1927
at a cost of 15 million Reichsmarks, providing employment for some 3,000 workers
in one of Germany's poorest regions at the time.

The Nordschleife measures 20.8 km (13 miles) in length, with 73
curves and a maximum gradient of 17 percent. On a map, the track doesn't look
especially twisty, but when you're blasting along the narrow roadway at high
speeds, the hairpins and doglegs start to look hairy--especially when you see a
towtruck getting ready to drag away a sports car that spun off the track and
(fortunately for the driver) stopped in the grass before it reached the trees.

Formula I racing was suspended on the Nordschleife after
Austrian race driver Niki Lauda was badly burned in a fiery accident in 1976.
Today, the Nordschleife is still the site of frequent accidents--some of them
fatal--and it continues to be used for car and motorcycle races. (The annual
24-hour race attracts more than 300,000 fans.) However, Formula
I events now take place on the newer Grand Prix track (see
next page).

You can drive the Nordschleife yourself in anything from a
motorbike to a bus at designated times, though a "race taxi" (see below) will
give you bigger thrills with less risk--and you won't be frustrated by having to
share the track with 1,000 or more other vehicles on busy days during the peak
tourist season.

Race taxis

Unless you're seriously into car racing, the most exciting way
to hurtle around the Nürburgring is with a professional race driver. Several
companies offer a "Ring Taxi" service--among them, the
BMW Ring Taxi
and the
Zakspeed Viper-Jet Co-Driver program. I whipped around the Nordschleife on a
rainy day with
Wolfgang Kaufmann, who piloted a
street-legal Škoda Ottavia through the North Loop's 20.8 km of zigs, zags, and
spin-out spots in about 10 minutes. (Student race drivers on the course were
overtaken and left behind as Kaufmann expertly used every inch of the wet track,
including the red-and-white-striped warning zones on the outer edges of
corners.)

Tip: The race taxis are popular--if expensive--so book
ahead, especially if you're visiting in peak season. Still, if you don't have a
reservation, you might get lucky: Nervous passengers sometimes cancel in rainy
weather.

Driver education

Auto Motor und Sport magazine's
Driving Safety Centre,
the Motorsport Akademie, and
other companies offer courses in race driving, highway driving under extreme
conditions, etc. For more possibilities, including the chance to drive a race
car on the Grand Prix track, browse the official
Nürburgring Web site.

If you live outside the EU,
a tax-free Renault or Peugeot tourist car leasecan be cheaper than renting
for visits of 21+ days. Minimum driver
age is 18, there' s no upper age limit, and rates include insurance.